Wakefield - National Age Group Championships

2007 July 8^th

The Tri-Anglia contingent for this race were:

• Dave Ledward,
• Matt Spillman,
• Karl Sherry,
• Andrew Walpole.

Karl having qualified for Hawaii Ironman World Champs, Matt and Dave qualified for Hamburg World Champs this year Matt sprint and Dave being greedy with olympic and sprint, so I felt a bit unworthy of their triathlon achievement this year so I had to try and join the club and get qualification for Vancouver 2008 World Champs.

Arrived at Wakefield me and Karl choose to camp on a boggy field which stunk while the other boys lorded it up in their spa retreats. An early start was a bit rude but expected at big races such as Wakefield. Will Clarke was seen in the area floating about but unfortunately I didn't palm his hand with enough cash to race under my number to get me a slot.

Setup was normal off in age groups sending off the older age group first so Grandad Sherry was off first then Middle Age Matt and Dave in the same wave and the "Young Guns" off about 15minutes later in the fast and furious 25-29 category.

Before the swim I was about to get into the water I put my goggles on and the strap snapped people that have had the privilege to race with me know that things tend to go wrong or I forget stuff when I'm racing so this was a great start luckily my girlfriend had some cash and I bought some goggles with a minute to spear before the start.

Swim looked long and this was evident with nobody going under 20minutes and with the TFN boys who competed at Dambusters swimming 18-19 minutes were only swimming 20-21 minutes.

With the small groups going off the traffic wasn't bad and I managed to get a clear run in to the first buoy and the rest off the swim seemed ok. Coming out in 24:37 , which was similar to Matt must have been a good swim with Matt constantly whipping my arse down Whittlingham lake in training. Dave posted the fastest swim with a 24:09 and Karl saving energy or must try harder with a 26 minute.

The ride was hilly and this was never going to be a fast race and as soon as we got into the dales the first 2 mile climb started. With me, Karl and Dave all favoring the hilly course this was a chance to pick off the bigger time trial guys and really get our teeth into some good climbs. This was the case within the first hill with my tactics of powering up the hill in the big ring instead of spinning seemed to pay off although I did see a lad in my age group go past me with a disc wheel on the back!!!

With some fast decent the bike was enjoyable and seemed to be over quite quickly even though it was a slower bike course than normal olympic bike courses. Having the fastest ride of the day was pleasing with a 1hr 8min:53 the fastest overall ride of the day being 1hr 5min:03. Dave had a good ride which was expected with a 1hr 9min 38 although he did claim that cows walked out in front of him on the bike course and he had to stop costing him 30 second. Which if true the juries still out on that one, must have been annoying.

The run was flat which I prefer and was able to get a good pace going all was going well until the last lap when I took on hi-five isotonic and got an instant stitch and a couple of guys who had overtaken and was looking to kick in on another 25-29 age grouper in the distance all went belly up with in a 100metres. The last mile turned into a sort of ironman shuffle with the pain being so intense and not easing. I got annoyed with myself as I suffered this in the run in the Norwich tri and hadn't learned my lesson. Cost me a couple of places and all the hard work on the bike had been undone.

Karl had a cracking run and posted the quickest time of 38:34, I ran a 38:48 and Dave having a good one with 39.31. Karl missed out on a bronze medal by a second what a blank!!! As he did not realise the person in front of him was in his age group (even though we were all body marked, I'm sure spec savers do free eye tests), I know he would of out kicked him if he knew. It was pretty guttering for Karl think there is a lesson in their somewhere. 

Good results by all with Karl qualifying for Hamburg and Vancouver and Dave for Vancouver this shows that the club can compete at the top of age group racing.

The winner was Peter Swain of TFN posting a time of 2hr.08.03

Results